Import substitution made Russian satellites too heavy to launch

Russian Defense Ministry had to purchase 4 additional communication satellites “Meridian” because the new generation satellites “Sphere-V” that were supposed to replace them were proved to be too heavy for existing carrier rockets. It was reported on February 19 by sources in the space industry to Interfax.

As it was told to the agency, problems with import substitution, in particular, in electronic components supply, have led to a significant increase in the weight of “Sphere-V” devices.

“It happened so that currently existing in Russia carrier rockets “Proton-M” and “Angara-A5″ are not able to bring a satellite of this type built with new Russian components to a high elliptic orbit,” – he explained.

Earlier it was reported that accidents with the Russian rockets and satellites scare insurers of space launches.